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Did you know that more than ⅓ adults over 40 years of age experience dizziness? As common as it is, dizziness is a complicated condition that commonly does not have an easy solution. It’s very common to hear about it but it’s often a symptom that people pass off as something that cannot be treated. For some people, it can be a small nuisance but for others it can be debilitating and a huge risk factor for falling.

Dizziness can be caused by a disruption of the balance center in the brain, mechanical neck issues, a side effect of medications, diet, psychological issues including anxiety and stress. Because there is a such a range of causes, it’s important to have a qualified healthcare practitioner assess and identify why dizziness is occurring.

Our balance center of our brain is composed of 3 components: the vestibular system (your inner ear), vision, proprioception (your sense of touch). When one or more these components are compromised, you may end up with dizziness. There are ways to test each component to identify the cause for poor balance or dizziness. For example, try standing on 1 foot, then try doing the same with your eyes closed. You’ll rely on your proprioception from your standing foot, but you’re also using the visual information you have from your eyes. If you want to make it even more interesting, you can stand on one foot, close your eyes and the turn you head left and right. The head turning will move your inner ear around. For some of us, that might cause a loss of balance or dizziness.

While that might sound complicated, the great news is that the majority of dizziness cases are caused by a treatable condition called Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV). BPPV is caused by a disruption of microscopic crystals in your inner ear. When these crystals break loose from their position and fall into the wrong place, you may get vertigo.

A Registered Physiotherapist who has received extra training in Vestibular Rehabilitation has the qualifications to assess and treat most dizziness disorders particularly BPPV. We have qualified physios at PhysioWorks who can provide this service. If you’ve been coping with an acute onset or have had chronic dizziness issues, contact us to get an assessment to help identify the cause of your issues.

Byron Chan, BScPT, GIMS, CAFCI